Greta Garbo stars once again as a promiscuous woman with too many lovers in 1931's Inspiration. If you wonder why she was so popular in the early 1930s, it's because she was always cast as sex symbols with men falling at her feet. Check her out in Mata Hari, As You Desire Me, Camille, Susan Lennox, or this one. She starts Inspiration in a gorgeous revealing party guest as a crowd of her lovers give a champagne toast to her beauty. Bored, she wanders off in search of someone knew and finds the handsome Robert Montgomery. "I'm just a nice young woman. Not too young. And not too nice," Greta grins as they share a carriage ride back to Bob's apartment.
It's pretty obvious that Greta doesn't deserve her new beau, but she hopes their new love will be more powerful than her past reputation. Will her friends Lewis Stone and Marjorie Rambeau blow her cover and tell Bob how many boyfriends she had before him, and what type of men they were? Or will true love conquer all and let a loose, artsy woman have a chance at real happiness with the right guy? What I never understand about these movies is the lack of sympathy for the man's perspective. The audience is supposed to feel so sorry for the woman with a sordid past, who's repeatedly lied to trick her new boyfriend into thinking she's a completely different person than she is, and when the new boyfriend finds out and gets mad, the audience is supposed to think of him as heartless and intolerant. If the roles were reversed, audiences would think she was a wronged woman who shouldn't forgive the deceit and false image.
DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. About ten minutes in, after Greta and Robert take the carriage ride, the camera switches to first-person as a man walks through a house, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"
It's pretty obvious that Greta doesn't deserve her new beau, but she hopes their new love will be more powerful than her past reputation. Will her friends Lewis Stone and Marjorie Rambeau blow her cover and tell Bob how many boyfriends she had before him, and what type of men they were? Or will true love conquer all and let a loose, artsy woman have a chance at real happiness with the right guy? What I never understand about these movies is the lack of sympathy for the man's perspective. The audience is supposed to feel so sorry for the woman with a sordid past, who's repeatedly lied to trick her new boyfriend into thinking she's a completely different person than she is, and when the new boyfriend finds out and gets mad, the audience is supposed to think of him as heartless and intolerant. If the roles were reversed, audiences would think she was a wronged woman who shouldn't forgive the deceit and false image.
DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. About ten minutes in, after Greta and Robert take the carriage ride, the camera switches to first-person as a man walks through a house, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"